Chris Brown Stays in Paris for Work, Plans to Leave Thursday

Chris Brown is NOT getting the hell outta Dodge after cops released him ... instead he's hanging around Paris for one good reason -- money, and lots of it.

TMZ's learned the singer is right in the middle of shooting a music video. He was seen performing Wednesday on a Paris street. We're told he's honoring his commitment to the project before he takes off Thursday.

We're told Chris dropped 6 figures on the music vid -- for an upcoming song called "Back to Love" -- so it's pretty important to make it happen. Our sources say in addition to the video, he's also working on another project with a dance studio.

Earlier in the day, Brown was seen publicly for the first time since his arrest as he left the Mandarin Oriental Hotel -- the same place where the alleged rape went down. He had nothing but love for everybody.

As we reported ... he was arrested Monday night by French police on possible rape and narcotics charges, but got released the same day without conditions. Chris was allowed to keep his passport and return home, but he's clearly not in a hurry to flee.